"It suggests that there might not be insurmountable problems for
astronauts in future trying to grow their own crops on the moon
in a controlled environment," he said, adding, "I think there's
certainly a great deal of interest in using the moon as staging
post, particularly for flights to Mars, because it's relatively
near the Earth."

China's
space agency has said the objective of its mission to the far
side of the moon is to learn more about the area - including
about things like mineral composition and the structure of its
surface - as well as about the sun, other planets, and the origin
of the stars.